The stakes are high in Georgia as voters flock to the polls to decide which party will take control of the U.S. Senate. The state has been under fire this election cycle from Republican President Donald Trump and his supporters after voters flipped to elect Democrat Joe Biden in November.
Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux (D-Ga. 7th District), a freshman member of the 117th Congress, told Cheddar that Democrats are confident voters will carry the party across the finish line once again.
“What we’ve seen so far is that in a number of the congressional districts, the ones that are very heavily Democratic districts, we are already at 80 percent of the November 3 turnout, and in the more Republican districts, we are much, much lower,” she said.
According to Bourdeaux, Democrats reclaiming the majority in the Senate, through victories for both Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, is essential to advancing critical pieces of legislation that can immediately aid Americans.
“It is everything from actually addressing COVID, getting some relief to families that is desperately needed, to health care and reform and making sure that people have quality affordable health care, investing in education, making sure that our young people today don’t have that ball and chain of student debt around their ankle. All of this is on the line in these Senate races,” she said.
Both Republicans and Democrats have eyes on suburban Georgia as voters in those areas were instrumental in pushing the Biden-Harris ticket to victory. But when it comes to the Senate race, the suburbs are a toss-up, where, in many instances, voters supported a presidential candidate but did not necessarily vote along party lines down the entire ballot.
Bourdeaux described the suburban vote as a “make or break area for Georgia.”
“The bigger problem is that it undermines confidence in democracy…”
The newly-elected representative is also calling on Americans to be patient when it comes to getting the results of today’s runoff races, particularly after it took officials five weeks to certify Biden’s victory in the state.
“I tell everybody, ‘This is Georgia and we have to be very, very patient and wait for all of the votes to be counted.’ We do expect it to be a close race and that generally takes a lot longer,” she added.
Congress will face even more adversity this week as the body gears up to count electoral votes in the presidential contest. At least 13 senators and 140 GOP House members are expected to challenge the results, which, according to Bourdeaux, is unlikely to bear any fruit.
“The bigger problem is that it undermines confidence in democracy. It undermines confidence in the idea that people’s votes count and we need to make sure that we not only address this challenge but that we renew our democracy and make sure that people understand that it does matter if you vote. It does matter if you’re engaged,” she explained.
If Democrats do manage to win in the runoff elections, Bourdeaux said the focus has to be shifted to restoring bipartisan agreement among lawmakers as well as re-establishing integrity of the voting process in the eyes of Americans, especially for those that have not accepted the president’s loss.
Many U.S. consumers say they’ve noticed higher than usual prices for holiday gifts in recent months, according to a a December poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. A contributing factor is the unusually high import taxes the Trump administration put on foreign goods. While the worst-case consumer impact that many economists foresaw from the administration’s trade policies hasn’t materialized, some popular gift items have been affected more than others. Most toys and electronics sold in the U.S. come from China. So do most holiday decorations. Jewelry prices have risen due to the cost of gold.
Serbia’s prosecutor for organized crime has charged a government minister and three others with abuse of position and falsifying of documents related to a luxury real estate project linked to U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. The charges came on Monday. The investigation centers on a controversy over a a bombed-out military complex in central Belgrade that was a protected cultural heritage zone but that is facing redevelopment as a luxury compound by a company linked to Kushner. The $500 million proposal to build a high-rise hotel, offices and shops at the site has met fierce opposition from experts at home and abroad. Selakovic and others allegedly illegally lifted the protection status for the site by falsifying documentation.
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to block states from regulating artificial intelligence. He argues that heavy regulations could stifle the industry, especially given competition from China. Trump says the U.S. needs a unified approach to AI regulation to avoid complications from state-by-state rules. The order directs the administration to draw up a list of problematic regulations for the Attorney General to challenge. States with laws could lose access to broadband funding, according to the text of the order. Some states have already passed AI laws focusing on transparency and limiting data collection.
The New York Times and President Donald Trump are fighting again. The news outlet said Wednesday it won't be deterred by Trump's “false and inflammatory language” from writing about the 79-year-old president's health. The Times has done a handful of stories on that topic recently, including an opinion column that said Trump is “starting to give President Joe Biden vibes.” In a Truth Social post, Trump said it might be treasonous for outlets like the Times to do “FAKE” reports about his health and "we should do something about it.” The Republican president already has a pending lawsuit against the newspaper for its past reports on his finances.
President Donald Trump says he will allow Nvidia to sell its H200 computer chip used in the development of artificial intelligence to “approved customers” in China. Trump said Monday on his social media site that he had informed China’s leader Xi Jinping and “President Xi responded positively!” There had been concerns about allowing advanced computer chips into China as it could help them to compete against the U.S. in building out AI capabilities. But there has also been a desire to develop the AI ecosystem with American companies such as chipmaker Nvidia.
House Republicans in key battleground districts are working to contain the political fallout expected when thousands of their constituents face higher bills for health insurance coverage obtained through the Affordable Care Act. For a critical sliver of the GOP majority, the impending expiration of the enhanced premium tax credits after Dec. 31 could be a major political liability as they potentially face midterm headwinds in a 2026 election critical to President Donald Trump’s agenda. For Democrats, the party’s strategy for capturing the House majority revolves around pinning higher bills for groceries, health insurance and utilities on Republicans.
